Crown Packaging Co. gets new president

Crown Paper Group Inc. has named Colin Fernie president of Crown Packaging Co.

In this role, Fernie will be responsible for Crown Packaging’s plant and its Boxmaster packaging plant, both in Vancouver British Columbia, as well as its distribution centers in Kelowna, British Columbia, and Calgary, Alberta.

He succeeds Joe Beers, who is leaving the company.

Crown Paper Group is a holding company created in 2015 for investments in the paper and packaging industries. The executive leaders of Crown Paper Group have worked in the paper and packaging industry for a century and a half collectively, building high-performance businesses.

Earlier this year Crown Paper Group acquired Port Townsend Holdings Co., which includes the Port Townsend paper mill in Port Townsend, Washington. The mill is a large consumer of old corrugated containers (OCC).

“Crown Packaging and Boxmaster are market-leading packaging businesses operating in strong Canadian packaging markets, and Colin Fernie has built multiple high performing businesses in the Canadian packaging market,” says Steve Klinger, Crown Paper Group CEO. “He is a perfect fit for the business that Crown Paper Group is building.”

Fernie previously served as president of Canada-based Western Concord, a flexible packaging manufacturer, and as vice president and general manager of Smurfit-MBI, the Canadian packaging division of Smurfit-Stone. Fernie also has served as chairman of the Paper Packaging Canada trade association and director of the Canadian Corrugated Case Association.

“The opportunity to work with these excellent, customer-focused businesses, Crown Packaging and Boxmaster, and with Crown Paper Group’s executive team and their collective experience building high-performance businesses, is the career opportunity of a lifetime,” Fernie says.